"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home. "
- Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977

"640K ought to be enough for anybody. "
- Bill Gates (1955-), in 1981

"The concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn better than a 'C', the idea must be feasible. "
- A Yale University management professor in response to student Fred Smith's paper proposing reliable overnight delivery service (Smith went on to found Federal Express Corp.)

"Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?"
- H. M. Warner (1881-1958), founder of Warner Brothers, in 1927

"We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out. "
- Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962

"Everything that can be invented has been invented. "
- Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. Office of Patents, 1899

"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers. "
- Thomas Watson (1874-1956), Chairman of IBM, 1943

Surgeons who play video games three hours a week have 37 percent fewer errors
and accomplish tasks 27 percent faster, he [James Rosser] says, basing his
observation on results of tests using the video game Super Monkey Ball.

Letting children play video games on a Game Boy in the operating room before
undergoing surgery can help relax them better than tranquilizers or holding
Mommy's hand, researchers say.

Santa sent his special elf Sanjo down to the basement to fetch some green ribbons for bows. Sanjo discovered that the ambitious elf, Lanzro had switched the labels on the 3 ribbon drawers. They were labeled: 'Red,' 'Green' and 'Red and Green.' Since every drawer was incorrectly marked, how can Sanjo pick just one ribbon out of one drawer and know which drawer held which?

HONG KONG (AP) - Hong Kong officials are pulling "Fart Bomb" toys from the
shelves because the gag gift - a metallic bag that gives off a stench - produces
a dangerous chemical reaction, the government said. The sulfur-acid mixture produced by the toy can cause nausea, headaches and eye irritation, the government said in a statement Tuesday. Customs officers have seized 263 "Fart Bombs" and are urging parents to hand in their unused toys to a consumer protection bureau, it said. The toy includes a silver-colored bag containing sulfur compound powder and an inner plastic bag of diluted acid, the government said. When the inner bag is broken, the chemicals mix producing hydrogen sulfide and "giving off a disgusting smell," the statement said.

"There are ominous signs that the Earth's weather patterns have begun to change
dramatically.... The evidence has now begun to accumulate so massively
that meteorologists are hard-pressed to keep up.... Meteorologists are almost
unanimous [that] the resulting famines could be catastrophic.... A survey
completed last year reveals a drop in average ground temperatures in the
Northern Hemisphere.... The present decline has taken the planet about a
sixth of the way toward the Ice Age average.... Climatologists are
pessimistic that political leaders will take any positive action to
compensate, [like] melting the Arctic ice cap by covering it with black
soot.... The longer the planners delay, the more difficult will they find it to cope with climatic change once the results become grim reality. "

"In early August 2004 the remote Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in northern
Alaska was gripped with unseasonably mild weather: 20-degree afternoons,
ravenous mosquitoes past prime insect season, and dry tundra in the typically
swampy lowlands of the coastal plain. These may be early signs of global
warming."

When four of Santa's elves got sick, and the trainee elves did not produce the toys as fast as the regular ones, Santa was beginning to feel the pressure of being behind schedule. Then Mrs. Claus told Santa that her Mom was coming to visit. This stressed Santa even more.

When he went to harness the reindeer, he found that three of them were about to give birth and
two had jumped the fence and were out, heaven knows where. More stress.

Then when he began to load the sleigh one of the boards cracked, and the toy bag fell to the ground and scattered the toys. So, frustrated, Santa went into the house for a cup of apple cider and a shot of rum. When he went to the cupboard, he discovered that the elves had hidden the liquor, and there was nothing to drink. In his frustration, he accidentally dropped the cider pot, and it broke into hundreds of little pieces all over the kitchen floor. He went to get the broom and found that mice had eaten the straw end of the broom.

Just then the doorbell rang, and irritable Santa trudged to the door. He opened the door, and there was a little angel with a great big Christmas tree. The angel said, very cheerfully, "Merry Christmas, Santa. Isn't it a lovely day? I have a beautiful tree for you. Where would
you like me to stick it?"

And so began the tradition of the little angel on top of the Christmas tree.

Trivial Pursuit, which has since spawned all kinds of specialized offspring, is still the top board game. Well, it's happening again, but now it's you! Game nights are all the rage in living rooms across America. Sales of adult board games are up 4.5% this year, even though total toy sales are down 3%, says David Riley of the NPD Group, a New York marketing research firm. Some retailers have reported that sales of board games were up as much as 10% even before the high-volume holiday season began. More

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (AP) -- An 8-year-old girl was suspended for nine days for bringing to school what appeared to be about 30 'Jell-O shots' -- though it was unclear whether they contained alcohol.

The girl told the principal that her mother, who works in a bar, makes alcoholic shots at home and sells them at work. The fourth-grader said her mother had instructed her to take the shots to school and sell them, three for $1, to make some money for Christmas

"About 100 angry residents packed the Longswamp Township building Wednesday to oppose a zoning change that could pave the way for construction of more than 750 homes on about 225 acres in the township.
Fiorino Grande, of Sinking Springs-based Grande Construction, requested approval of a change from industrial and low-density housing on the 225 acres to high-density housing.
Supervisors are scheduled to vote on the proposed change Dec. 28. If they approve the zoning amendment, Grande would still have to face several rounds of state and local approvals before construction could begin.
The zoning change is proposed for two parcels near the Brandywine Heights High School.
The first parcel, called the Tercha tract, contains 140 acres, 94 of which would be rezoned for about 300 townhouses and single-family homes if the zoning amendment is approved, according to representatives from Grande Construction.
The remaining acreage on the parcel will remain industrial.
The second parcel, called the Radcliffe tract, most of which is already zoned for low-density housing, could contain 66 single-family homes and 376 townhouses if the development goes forward.
The township's zoning commission recommended approval of the zoning changes, according to township engineer Jill L. Smith of Hanover Engineering.
But residents opposed the change Wednesday, saying runoff from the development would hurt local farms, loss of industrial land would erode the tax base, and additional school-age children in the district would overcrowd already strained schools in Brandywine Heights.
?If this goes through, it is a great tragedy for our community and our township,? said Robert J. Tercha, who said he is ashamed that his uncle sold the Tercha farmland to Grande for the development. ?More housing will increase our taxes.
?People like that (Grande) work and move on profit, not to do our community a favor,” Tercha said later.

“I know there's going to be change, but with change comes responsibility.” Article

"High school students in Hong Kong, Finland and South Korea do best in mathematics among those in 40 surveyed countries while students in the United States finished in the bottom half, according to a new international comparison of mathematical skills shown by 15-year-olds.

The United States was also cited as having the poorest outcomes per dollar spent on education. It ranked 28th of 40 countries in math and 18th in reading. " Article

Brandywine tax plea to Bush gets a brushoff, then an apology
A White House operator hangs up on a Mertztown woman. Two weeks later a staffer calls back and says the president will hear her concerns.
By Yvonne M. Wenger
Reading Eagle

People told Michele L. Schlegel it was silly to ask the White House for help in battling rising property taxes in the Brandywine Heights School District.

Schlegel recalled the comments she heard: “Don't waste your time writing to the president. He will never even see your letter. He doesn't care about you or your issue.”

But Schlegel, 50, and her husband, Elton J., 38, of Mertztown wrote the letter anyway, sending it out Nov. 14.

They recently heard back from Washington, although not from the president.

A White House spokesman contacted them, in part to apologize for an operator who had hung up on Schlegel when she called Nov. 16 to follow up on the letter.

“I was flabbergasted and I thought it was not true,” Schlegel said. “I didn't ask the man to identify himself, but he said he is in charge of the (White House) comment line.”

The White House could not be reached for comment about the call.

But Schlegel said she told the spokesman that she wanted to bring the concerns of the Taxpayers Association of Brandywine Heights to Bush's attention.

The Schlegels are members of the taxpayers group, which formed over the summer in response to increasing school district property taxes in Brandywine Heights and statewide.

Brandywine's property-tax rate of 26.15 mills is the highest among Berks County's 18 public school districts.

The Schlegels' letter asked the president to appoint someone to intercede on behalf of Brandywine taxpayers in regard to a new teachers' contract in the district.

The four-year pact, which increases the money available for teacher salaries by 4 percent each year, has since been approved.

But Schlegel said she still is interested in hearing from the White House about the broader issue of public school funding.

She tried to explain her position in the Nov. 16 call, but a White House operator cut her off, she said.

“I was pouring my heart out, and before I could finish my comment, the operator hung up,” she said.

The next day she faxed her complete message to the White House along with a detailed account of how the operator had abruptly ended the call.

Two weeks later Schlegel received the return call and apology from the White House spokesman along with a promise that the tax issue would be brought to the president's attention.

It's unknown whether that will happen, but Schlegel said she'll be waiting to hear more from Washington.

From Madison, Wis., to Bucks County, Pa., the local tax assessor is dipping deeper into homeowners' pockets as real estate prices rise and states share less of their tax revenue with local governments.

Part of the problem lies in demographics and the rapid growth of exurban communities. Young couples who can't afford suburban homes have moved to 'edge' communities further from the cities. Those are filled with children, and to educate them the communities have to jack up property taxes to build new schools and hire teachers.

Being paid for schoolwork is part of the third-grade curriculum at Beverly Elementary, in the Birmingham school district. Students earn "Beverly Bucks" for homework, tests and class work, with a bonus thrown in for good quality. At the end of the week, they can take a paycheck home for endorsement. Then the student can cash the check for Beverly Bucks and shop in the class store.

The paycheck curriculum is part economics, part math and a very big part incentive..

"Their work has really improved," Knoper said. "When I come to work, I get paid for it. We've really just likened it to the real world."

After the Christmas break, Knoper said the paycheck curriculum will be ramped up a notch when the kids start paying taxes on the hallways (a form of road tax) and playgrounds.
Students can lose money, too.

"If I accidentally hit somebody, I have to lose $4 or $5," said Shane Holmes, 8, suggesting that losing that much money was horrifying.

Everyone needs motivation, said Patricia Edwards, a professor of language and literacy in Michigan State University's College of Education. But she sees a downside to the system.
"If people feel that in order for them to be intrinsically motivated, someone has to pay them to do something that should be in their value system -- that's bothersome to me," Edwards said. "To me, a kid should have an investment in their own education, to realize this is something they need to do. I think having kids in control of their money is a positive," Edwards said. "But I think there needs to be a lot of explanation."